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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoLaurent Rebours | Associated PressChris Froome of Britain defended his yellow jersey after taking the overall lead on Saturday. He leads by
1 minute, 25 seconds over Alejandro Valverde.

BAGNERES-DE-BIGORRE, France — The mighty mountains of the Pyrenees offered at least two
important insights about Tour de France leader Chris Froome: He can land terrible blows to his
rivals with his grinding uphill speed and can take their punches, too. In short, if the Briton in
the yellow jersey perhaps isn’t unbeatable, he seems close to it.

After nine hectic days of racing over 940 miles, the Tour luxuriates in its first rest day
today. The pause allows the contenders for victory in Paris on July 21 to lick their wounds and
regroup after Froome knocked them dizzy and grabbed the race lead with a triumphant first day of
climbing in the Pyrenees on Saturday. But they’ll also be ruing the opportunity they collectively
wasted yesterday to hurt Froome right back.

On what may well prove to have been one of the toughest and decisive days of this 100th Tour,
and certainly one of the most tactical and interesting, Froome’s rivals isolated him from his Sky
teammates and forced him to ride alone — one man against many — up four consecutive climbs. But
they could not crack Froome.

“That was one of the hardest days that I’ve ever had on a bike,” the 2012 Tour runner-up said
after defending his yellow jersey.

The rival who harassed Froome most, with successive squirts of acceleration on the last climb,
was Nairo Alexander Quintana. The lesson the Colombian drew from this drama was: “That we can break
down his team a little, but that he can defend himself and is very strong.”

Sky’s impressive climbing on Saturday was in some respects reminiscent of the way Lance
Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service team would exhaust his rivals. But the way Sky wilted yesterday
definitely was not.

Seemingly drained by their monster efforts a day earlier, Froome’s support riders quickly burned
out.

For some rivals, Sky’s difficulties yesterday reinforced suspicions that the team isn’t as
strong as in 2012, when Bradley Wiggins and Froome finished 1-2 on the podium in Paris. Some riders
were surprised that Sky wore itself out so quickly trying to control Stage 9.

“They are not unbeatable,” said Jakob Fuglsang, the Dane who finished second behind stage winner
Daniel Martin. “They blew themselves up one by one.”